In part II of this ongoing series, we’re continuing to share how Lionakis employees are staying busy with creative at-home projects to transform their spaces for #LivingWellAtHome.
Check out the creations and before/after transformations below, and please share with us what you have been working on to transform your spaces at home!
Jonathan McMurtry, Associate Principal, Higher Education
Jonathan McMurtry, Associate Principal in Higher Education, recently completed a home project with a great Lionakis twist! The “Blue Cube” was a former top-secret military building in Sunnyvale, CA that tracked Soviet satellites, submarines and planes, etc. during the cold war and was part of Jonathan’s childhood as his father worked for and designed flight simulators for NASA. Years later, when Jonathan grew up and became part of the design and leadership team for the new Sunnyvale Center, you can imagine Jonathan’s glee in telling his father he was actually in the building his Dad previously couldn’t get into, even with his top-secret clearance at the time!
Lionakis had to tear down the original cube building for the new Foothill College Center, but Jonathan was determined to find something to keep as a memento and to connect he and his father’s career legacies to the building, and the site. In the center of the building was a 1,000 square foot room with a single 6-inch safe door, complete with the combination dial. Rumor had it that its purpose was just in case of WWIII, they would lock a select few people in this control room and hope for the best! The ceiling in this room contained very interesting acoustical material that fascinated Jonathan, and thus it became part of his new home transformation project, installed in his hallway to provide a pop of color, a unique design element and a connection to a storied past.
The bright orange color he painted the piece was chosen from one of his favorite pieces of art which he found in Palm Springs.
Michelle Davis, Director of Accessibility
Michelle Davis is the Director of Accessibility Accessiblity at Lionakis and lives on a working farm. She and her family decided it was time to build a new barn for the pigs! The project, which is currently halfway done, was able to accommodate her pigs, Charlotte and Celeste, while they finish it up! No one in her family, including Michelle, have ever built a structure with Concrete Masonry Units (CMU) before, so that was a big learning curve. The other side of the existing barn will be similar to what’s already there, but with one big CMU pen and one big wood-framed area. The center, where the posts are sticking up, will eventually be a corridor with a high roof and even clerestory windows to let light into the space!
